Naïve
by Emerald Skies
Summary: The day of Mello's departure from Wammy's, the three boys spend a day of quiet company with the ocean. OneShot, T for swearing.


A/N: I haven't posted anything for awhile :3

Another oneshot, geez, I love those.

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I love reviews, by the way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, The Spill Canvas, Final Fantasy X, Halo, Suikoden V or anything else that's not mine.

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Besides the waves loping slightly at the edge of the beach, there was not a sound to be heard on the long, rainy expanse of land on the coastline. However, when the wind blew a clicking of beads could be heard only by the most sensitive of ears. The dark crimson of the rosary beads clacked together when gusts blew across the beach, sending an involuntary shiver through anyone in range of hearing it. It was hard to believe a religious object could have such on ominous sound.

A young boy of about thirteen stood on the edge of the water, looking disdainfully at the waves. His mind was reeling- each wave only had a few seconds before it crashed into the shore and disappeared. The waves reached a crest of energy, before slowly slipping away into oblivion. Each drop of water had a role to play in the wave reaching its climax, and each drop of water helped to ease it out. This was the life of the wave, the story, the object of the short-lived life. The only objective that the water had; destiny had been set. The boy shifted uncomfortably, continuing to glare at the waves and he tucked a strand of blonde behind his ear...hoping he would be heard.

A young boy of about twelve sat comfortably in the sand, brandishing a little red shovel and bright orange goggles in one hand and a bucket in the other. His bright green eyes were alive and happy, and his smile immature and slight. The sand crumbled underneath his weight as he tried to sit on the castle...and once the castle was ruined, his little toy soldiers had to receive help from the Falenan Queen and Master Chief to get out! The story the boy weaved through his hands was startlingly similar to the plot of a video game, it seemed.

The final boy on the beach sat stiffly on a nearby dock, placid black eyes devoid of emotion as he dipped a sock-covered toe into the ice cold water. He absentmindedly grabbed a deck of cards to begin stacking, but the wind blew them all into the water and his hair became ruffled by the sudden gusts.

The black eyes swiveled to the blonde boy, before quickly looking back to his own project. The only tarot cards left on the dock stared him right in the face, as if some heavenly body had kept them there on purpose.

"Curiosity", a black feline dancing on a fencepost, about to teeter and fall.

"Love" A young goddess holding an apple received from a young boy.

"Death" A reaper stared from beneath a dark black cloak and beckoned to the reader.

The blank eyes scanned the cards, finally resting on the porportionless image of the young goddess. 'Love' the banner on the top read, but the picture presented a shallow, restless goddess instead of a deep, meaningful one. Mello had always said love was true, deep, and meaningful, whereas Matt had said it was something to be enjoyed by the moment. It was love that made made him into this; love that had torn him.

A hand wrapped silently around a lock of hair as the boy's mind drifted into the sea, back to his mentor and almost father-like figure.

_"Nate...heaven is not a place.." He'd simply stated, his sunken eyes pleading. "It's not even a state of being...it's that moment in life, the one where...you actually feel alive..." He pondered quietly, eyes averted to the ceiling._

The boy shook his head, and trailed back to path where the other two were waiting for him.

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The sun was beginning to set on a sullen scene, two young boys playing in the sand and the other, melancholy boy silently crouched on the dock again. The blonde and the redhead contentedly sat and threw sand playfully in the other's face. The blonde then proceeded to tackle the redhead into the muddy sand, and the laughter of children rang happily through the beach.

It made the palest boy uncomfortable.

It was too happy, too carefree... it was his most secret desire, to be able to be that way, laid back, happy... a child again.

The redhead approached him, smiling while a disgruntled sandy young boy clothed in black trailed behind him.

" Near!" He half-shouted with enthusiasm. "Want to help us defeat Sin? Yuna fainted and Tidus can't beat him on his own!" Matt then feigned distress, while Mello snorted.

Near continued to skip rocks and stack matchbooks. "No thank you, Matt." The boy said slowly, not bothering to look up from his work.

"Okay..." The redhead's hair silently drifted on the wind while he took a moment to recoup from this social encounter. He then looked back to 'Yuna' and took 'her' hand as they skipped back to battle Sin.

The boy continued to to stack, but paused a moment to wrap a strand to hair around his pale white finger. _Did they just ask me to play?_

The boy hugged a knee to his chest as his mind raced a million miles a second._ Matt? Mello? Asking me to play? What? Why? When? How?_

The pale boy didn't notice the water slowly engulfing the dock. The other boys called to him, but he couldn't hear through his own thoughts. Suddenly, the raging waves crashed against the boy, sweeping him off the dock and into the thrashing waters below.

"YOU IDIOT!" He could her the blonde scream right before his head was taken by the water. The undertow pulled him further under the surface, into the silent pitch black of the deep ocean. There was no chaos, no disorder, no worries here, only peaceful stillness. The boy was so far down he couldn't tell which way was to the surface, yet he was content to curl up and stay in the water until--

"Bleh!" The boy was dimly aware of warm sand underneath him, and a panting, soggy blonde laying beside him. His angry, cobalt blues fixated on the white-haired boy suddenly, and his clothes followed his arm in pathetic, soggy movements as he began to rage.

"YOU IDIOT! STUPID, STUPID NEAR!" His eyes burned with intense blue flame. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING AND--" The blonde just closed his mouth as a pale hand clasped around his flying, raged one.

"Mello. Please stop your idiocy at once." Near tilted his head to the side, observing the blonde's unpleasantly surprised face before glancing away uncomfortably. The pale boy began to get up, but strong, young hands pulled him back down.

The blonde's voice was iced over with an unrecognizable emotion. "Sit."

The other had no choice but to obey, but shivered when a cold gust of wind blew through the beach. Mello was staring out at the waves, but his head turned sharply at Near's sudden intake of breath. He sighed in slight annoyance as the boy shifted closer to him; he was about to brush him off but thought better of it.

"Near." Mello crossed his arm, withdrawing his hand and averting his gave from the other boy's with feigned disinterest. "Do you believe Matt's views about love?"

The other boy didn't look up, but instead responded by bringing his knee closer to his chest and shifting his white hair to cover his face.

"Well, don't." The blonde then stood up, still looking out over the waves as his hair danced around his head in a blonde halo. He then proceeded to turn around, and before heading back to the orphanage on the hill overlooking the ocean he quietly muttered,

"Love is real, so forget everything that you've heard..."

"Mello..."

"Live for the moment, Near."

That was the last of the young, naïve Mello that Near ever saw.

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